BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
BRUNEI Amateur Softball and Baseball Association (Basba) secretary-general Maj (R) Wan Mohd Tambrin Shah yesterday attributed the national team's failure to reach the final of the 2009 Giant Indonesian Open in Jakarta down to their lack of mental preparation.
Arriving back from Jakarta yesterday after the six-day, 13-team tournament ended on Sunday, Wan Mohd Tambrin Shah felt that the national team could have done better had they been less nervous during their semi-final match against first runner-up Giants which they lost 8-4.
After a bright start to the tournament held at the Pintu Satu Senayan softball field in Jakarta which saw them go undefeated in their first three group matches, the national team lost their fourth match to eventual Champions Lakidende 7-0.
Lakidende are from the Philippines and consist largely of players from the Philippines national team.
They sealed their place in the last four when they beat Jakarta's Radjawali 9-4.
"I think we lost in the semi-finals because we were not mentally prepared enough for that match," said the secretary-general, who was also a member of the team.
"We were more careful than normal in that match. Too careful.
"We were not nervous during our group matches and maybe we pushed ourselves to perform too much during that stage that we were not playing as well as we should have during the semi-finals," he added.
The nature of the competition which forced teams to play matches everyday for four days was something the national team were unaccustomed to and Wan Mohd Tambrin Shah readily admitted that.
"It was physical as well, playing continuously for four days," he said.
"That is something new for this team."
"We need to practise more together and improve our coordination," he replied when asked about the positives the team could take from the tournament.
The tournament marked the first time the national sluggers had competed in Jakarta and was a return to Indonesia after a break of 17 years.
Their first match on Wednesday was a 9-7 result against Pejabat of Jakarta, while their second came on the same day when they beat Bandung 8-5. Brunei picked up their third win against Jakarta Eagles, a 8-4 result.
According to Wan Mohd Tambrin Shah, Basba is now looking forward to a tournament between Asean countries that it will organise in July to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the association's inception.The Brunei Times
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